Two-handed mitten



Aug, 31, 1965 D. BURROWS TWO-HANDED MITTEN Filed April 9, 1964 Dale L. Burrows,

INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY 3,203,005 TWO-HANDED MITTEN Dale L. Burrows, 1707 Club View Drive NW., Huntsville, Ala. Filed Apr. 9, 1964, Ser. No. 358,542 2 Claims. (Cl. 2-'158) This invention relates to mittens or fingerless gloves and particularly to a mitten adapted to accommodate both hands of the wearer and permit entry of a handle of an object to be manipulated and be freely grasped within the mitten.

It is generally appreciated that gloves hamper the free and particularly sensitive, manipulation of ones hands. In view of this, their usage has been simply discarded or ignored in a number of instances. In doing this, the alternatives are either discomfort from the cold with some decrease in effectiveness in manipulation or greater losses in such effectiveness due to the use of gloves.- As the element of skill of manipulation becomes more important, the effect of cold on bare-handed operation becomes even more pronounced and thus, the alternatives between clumsy gloves and bare hands become increasingly unsatisfactory.

While single-handed gloves have been designed to permit single-handed, protected, bare-hand gripping of certain objects, e.g., a pencil in Patent 1,354,241, a hand tool in Patent 2,941,214, a ski pole in Swiss Patent 178,- 741, July 31, 1935, and a pick handle in French Patent 861,480, February 10, 1941, nothing is known to be available for similar protection where both hands must act jointly, in close proximity for manipulation of an implement. An example, and one where the present invention has proven itself well, is a golf mitten, it being of a novel configuration to accommodate both hands and the golf club handle. There are of course, two-handed mittens, as illustrated in Patent 2,611,901, and Design Patent 192,992, however, none of this class are known to provide the features of effective protection for two handed and bare-handed manipulation of an object as disclosed by the present invention.

In accordance with the invention a two-handed glove or two-handed mitten is constructed to include three basic regions or portions, a central hand portion permitting free and complete inter-hand contact, and a separate wrist portion for each hand and wrist, and through which hand entry is made. An opening for receiving an object such as a golf club is positioned at the end or side of the mitten generally opposite to the hand entry end.

The objects of this invention together with its features and advantages will be readily apparent from the following detailed description of an embodiment of the invention illustrated in the accompanying drawing.

Referring now to the drawing, a mitten is constructed from a soft cloth, leather, plastic or other material normally suitable for regular gloves or mittens. It has a central hand portion 12 of a substantially twohanded or joined hands dimension in which the hands of the wearer are free, and complete contact between fingers may be made. This portion comes generally to a blunt point at one end 14 at which there is an opening 16 of a size to permit free entry of the object to be held, such as a golf club 18. Joining central hand portion 12 on the left is a first wrist encircling portion 20 which provides a wrist enclosure of substantially wrist cross-section dimension and is terminated by opening 22 through which entry of one hand, either right or left as will be discussed below, is made.

In accordance with one feature of the invention, wrist portion 20 and thus opening 22, is made somewhat larger than the other wrist portion, wrist encircling portion 24,

United States Patent 0 to allow freer entry and exit of the one hand, while the mitten remains on the other hand.

In accordance with another feature of the invention, wrist portion 24, in addition to being smaller as to cross section of wrist portion permitted, extends somewhat longer from hand portion 12 to opening 26 than wrist portion 20 extends from hand portion 12 to 22. This longer extension is such as to reach above the wrist knuckle of the wearer sufiiciently to permit a holding means such as strap 28 to be employed. Strap 28 encircles wrist portion 24 and is secured to mitten 10 through an opening 30 in web 32.

In general, the configuration of mitten 10 is such that openings 22 and 26 are at one end or side of the mitten and opening 16 is at an opposite end, with openings 22 and 26 being positioned with respect to opening 16 to approximately constitute points of a triangle. Openings 22 and 26 are positioned to receive hands along lines of direction which approximately cross at opening 16 to form the vertex of an acute angle at opening 16.

Web 32 may be omitted, in which case strap 28' would pass through two openings in wrist portion 24 to secure it to mitten 10 as discussed above.

In consideration of the application of the invention as a golf mitten, it offers the advantage that ones hands can be kept warm and yet the handle of the golf club can be gripped with the bare hands inside the mitten in a normal fashion and can be swung at the ball while the mitten is on the hands. Keeping the hands warm and gripping the club handle with the bare hands is essential to an accurate golf swing. This cannot be accomplished by separate gloves or mittens worn on each hand. The mitten is so designed as to not interfere with the swing and is prevented from sliding down the hands during the swing by the use of strap 28, a soft tape, or elastic band that secures one side of the mitten about one of the wrists.

Furthermore, the use of such a mitten does not hamper the additional and combinational use of a thin, abbreviated leather glove normally Worn by golfers on one hand to avoid calluses and blisters. The outline of the golf mitten is asymmetrical due to the position of one hand vbelow the other in grasping the club handle. This feature makes it equally useful to both rightand lefthanded golfers and is accomplished for one merely by turning the mitten over from that position used by the other.

The normal sequence in using the mitten for golf is to secure it to one hand at the wrist through opening 26 and then, when it is necessary to grip the club, the other hand can take 'the club to be used and insert the club handle through hole 16. The handle is then gripped by the hand secured inside the mitten. Next the other hand is inserted through opening 22 in the mitten and the normal two-handed grip is accomplished and the swing is made at the golf ball. When the swing is completed, the free hand is withdrawn and is used to remove the club handle from the mitten.

When the golf club is not being used, the unsecured hand can either be held in the mitten or it can be placed in a pocket in the golfers attire or left uncovered. The hand, which is secured by the wrist strap 28 and when not in use for holding the club, can be used to grasp the unused part of the mitten in such a way as to close up opening 22 left by the removal of the other hand and hence keep this hand warm. Even though the mitten is secured to one hand, that hand is permitted to be easily exposed and to be placed in a pocket in the golfers attire or otherwise be used bare by merely threading the hand in mitten outward through the remaining opening and sliding the mitten up on the hand on which the mitten is secured.

' particular embodiment and largely-in terms of; a' particular usage the invention is not to be so narrowly construed, as changes may be made in' the'details of construction and various usages made of the invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.

I claim: I

1. A twohanded mitten comprising:

(A) a central hand portion adap ted to accommodate a left and right hand together;

(B) a first wrist portion extending from said central hand portion,includingjanencircling wrist enclosure and a first opening for entryiof a first hand and wrist;

(0) a second wrist portion eictending from said cen-' tral hand portion and including an encircling'wrist enclosure of larger wrist cross section than said first wrist portion and a second opening larger than said first opening for entry of a second hand and wrist;

and (D) a third opening positioned at one end of said 5 mitten which is generally opposite to the positions of said first and second openings.

2. The mitten set forth in claim 1 wherein said first wrist'portion extends for a greater length than said second wrist portion and further comprising means secured m to said first wrist portion for holding said first wrist portion to the wrist of'the wearer. 1

References Cited bythe Examiner UNITED -sTATEs PATENTS "1,251,313 12/17 White "2-17 2,518,424 s/so Kaas 2 1.ss 2,611,901 9/52 Neider 2- 158 FOREIGN PATENTS 64415 12/42 Norway.

fJORDAN' FRANKLIN; Primary Examiner. 

1. A TWO-HANDED MITTEN COMPRISING: (A) A CENTRAL HAND PORTION ADAPTED TO ACCOMMODATE A LEFT AND RIGHT HAND TOGETHER (B) A FIRST WRIST PORTION EXTENDING FROM SAID CENTRAL HAND PORTION INCLUDING AN ENCIRCLING WRIST ENCLOSURE AND A FIRST OPENING FOR ENTRY OF A FIRST HAND AND WRIST; (C) A SECOND WRIST PORTION EXTENDING FROM SAID CENTRAL HAND PORTION AND INCLUDING AN ENCIRCLING WRIST ENCLOSURE OF LARGER WRIST CROSS-SECTION THAN SAID FIRST WRIST PORTION AND A SECOND OPENING LARGER THAN SAID FIRST OPENING FOR ENTRY OF A SECOND HAND AND WRIST; AND (D) A THIRD OPENING POSITIONED AT ONE END OF SAID MITTEN WHICH IS GENERALLY OPPOSITE TO THE POSITIONS OF SAID FIRST AND SECOND OPENINGS. 